Revision as of 10:58, 7 March 2013

Hemoglobin Fibers

I am attempting to make AuNP fibers using several different proteins. First up is the bovine hemoglobin in my lab.

46mg of Hb in 42.5mL of water (MW of Hb ~64500 g/mol). 16.7uM Hb stock
(Note, the final solution was cloudy and brown, indicating that not everything went into solution. Will have to check this parameter later)

The following table was used to determine the volumes of water, gold, and Hb to add to each tube.

The tubes containing these liquids were heated at 80C in an oven for 4 hours.

A homogeneous suspension of nanoparticles appeared for ratios from ~30 to ~160. At the ratio 170, fiber formation was observed. Also, in ratios greater than ~50, small aggregates were seen in solution. This could be due to the low solubility of the protein or to minimal fiber formation. Will have to check this.